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ROUILLAC

14 - Berthold Mahn (1881–1975), painter, draughtsman and illustra…
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Estimate €50 - €100
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Berthold Mahn (1881–1975), painter, draughtsman and illustrator 5 letters from the front, 1915–1917, addressed to René Benjamin 28 November 1915 150th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Sector 142 I’ve been meaning to write to you for a long time now. So I’m truly in the wrong. And then I received your lovely book. And I’ve read it. And I’m going to read it again, it’s so wonderful – please believe that I’m trying to thank you by scribbling this little pen-and-ink drawing for you. It’s the Villa Elise in the occupied territories. It gives you a little idea of the German trenches. This one is rather romanticised; unfortunately, it’s rather poorly done. I’m unlucky enough to have a minor injury to the index finger of my right hand, which makes me very clumsy; I’ll do better next time. I’m also thinking about some illustrations for Gaspard, who really is a bit of a daft one. I can quite picture him having a go with the justice of the peace in the café; I can also picture the moonlit chat with the crazy old lady; and then the funeral service in the hospital with the gigantic shadows on the walls; and plenty of other things besides. I’ll try to knock something together for you, though I can’t promise anything. Because I’m swamped by officers of all ranks who are exploiting me, and I’m working an absolute horse. At the moment I’m experiencing the war as a tourist, exploring every nook and cranny. I’m even drawing corpses, and that interests me greatly. It’s just that the weight of it all is paralysing my hands. Your book is all the rage in the battalion; they snatch it from me and I’m afraid of losing it. I’ve got a Gaspard too, a real character I’d love for you to meet. What a character and what a clever bloke! Have I written to you since our offensive? I don’t think so. We broke through the front lines on 25 September. We advanced 2 kilometres west of the point of attack. Since then we’ve come unstuck around 5 October, suffering heavy losses each time. And now we’ve set up our winter quarters in the chalk and are working to consolidate our lines. I don’t think we’ll be staying here much longer. It’s even highly likely that in a few days’ time we’ll be ‘setting sail’ for a well-deserved rest before, no doubt, another skirmish or a difficult sector, as we’re one of those unfortunate regiments from the East and the active service – always the active service – who are thrown into the thick of it, and now we’re in the active service. There are perhaps six men left from the 11th and 12th intake per company! The rest are very young or very tired: conscripts recalled from medical exemption, draft dodgers who’ve been caught, men wounded three or four times, and our numbers have been considerably reduced... 17 July 1916 ( ) I stayed in Paris for the whole of May and had thought I might be able to bring you the first two sketches for Gaspard; they stayed on the Rue de Seine ( ) So you’re a transport driver; that must surely be a gruelling job ( ) Well, I’m a camouflage artist. Does that mean anything to you? But let’s take things in order. I was in Champagne, in that quiet sector, in February, and I was thinking seriously about Gaspard when I received a letter from the publishers asking me for illustrations about the war. My meagre earnings as a private second class and the relative tranquillity of my life made me accept the offer. And I bravely set about drawing a fine page depicting the attack in Champagne, which replaced the scribbles about Gaspard on my desk. ( ) Suddenly we were withdrawn from that all too quiet corner, and very gradually we made our way towards Verdun ( ) so there was no longer any question of illustrations of any kind ( ) I was at Mort Homme amongst the wounded and the dying, amidst the roar of the shells. I still managed to make a few sketches ( ) It was on the morning of 2 May, in a shelter situated between Hill 304 and Mort Homme, that someone came to tell me I was being called back to the rear! ( ) Missed by all my comrades, and missing my own dugout and my mates myself, half-sick, tired and dazed, I made my way to the rear through the trenches and the bleak hills dotted with shell-holes. I had indeed applied to be a camouflage specialist, but I hadn’t counted on it. Finally, the 13th Artillery Regiment of Vincennes dressed me up as an artilleryman and I set off to work near the Buttes Chaumont in a set-design workshop where I painted vast canvases throughout those months. ( ) In early June I went to Amiens, where I am now staying. This is the section’s main base. We produce all sorts of interesting projects, such as armoured observation posts, ‘molehills’, camouflaged guns, etc., etc., and we are going to deploy our structures along the front lines. ( ) FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE
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About the sale René Benjamin, the 20th-century Balzac scholar
Auction location
Auction time 10/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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